Hydrology Tool Set Helps Farmers Make Informed Decisions About Water Usage

Dr. Şerban Danielescu of the Fredericton Research and Development Centre in New Brunswick is assisting both Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) in advancing water research in line with Canada’s Roadmap to Open Science, thanks to his joint appointment with both agencies. He applies his knowledge to address water-related issues to enhance the preservation of ecological and hydrological environments.
Şerban Danielescu found a deficiency in the availability of readily available scientific instruments for assessing hydrological processes on agricultural land and interconnected ecosystems. Before then, farmers had few ways to assess the water deficit of their crops, the amount of water needed for irrigation, or the effects of irrigation on underground water storage.
Dr. Danielescu established a collaboration in 2017 with AAFC, ECCC, the University of New Brunswick, and the Canadian Rivers Institute to develop a suite of hydrological tools for the benefit of farmers, scientists, and ecological consultants seeking to get a deeper understanding of local water flow. The tools had to be completely accessible online, free of cost, and based on straightforward methods that were supported by scientific data. Thus, the ‘Hydrology Tool Set’ project got underway.
“Scientific collaborations were key to developing and launching these valuable tools to the industry as each tool required its own set of data testing. Further input was provided by researchers Dr. Sheng Li of the Fredericton Research and Development Centre and by Dr. Judith Nyiraneza and Dr. Yefang Jiang from the Harrington Research Farm and the Charlottetown Research and Development Centre on Prince Edward Island,” according to a recent post from the Government of Canada.
Danielescu’s Hydrology Tool Set package can be used for many types of environmental studies, including figuring out how urbanization, climate change, and agricultural practices affect wetlands, water courses, and agri-ecosystems globally. These models and tools have instructional as well as practical applications in the scientific domain.
The first tool was released in 2018 after tight cooperation with project partners, and the subsequent five tools were produced over the next three years, finishing in 2022. Users worldwide can now access all six hydrological tools online.
Unmistakable Forecasts and Better Farming Methods
With the use of the Hydrology Tool Set, farmers can understand the necessary amounts of water, rain, snow, and soil moisture for crop growth and the sustainable upkeep of their farms.
Local data (such as weather conditions and soil characteristics) can be entered into these adaptable web apps with an easy-to-use interface to assess run-off risk, calculate crop water stress, and forecast the requirement for irrigation and drainage in the future. These technologies can now be used by experts in water resources and policymakers to create better farming methods that can lessen adverse environmental effects, like effects on groundwater storage and possible water contamination.
“By incorporating the Hydrology Tool Set into their water management strategy, producers and stakeholders can identify long-term trends to better understand future water usage which can reduce their overall water cost, be more environmentally sustainable, and ultimately allow them to adapt to climate change and weather-related challenges such as droughts and floods,” Dr. Șerban Danielescu, Research Scientist, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, mentioned.
Thus far, a diverse array of users from the government, academia, non-governmental organizations, environmental consultancy, farmers, and stakeholders from agriculture groups have all had access to the tools. Notably, approximately 19,000 user-uploaded datasets and 44,000 analyses from people from all over the world, including New Zealand, Brazil, Ethiopia, Mongolia, and Iceland, were registered on the website where the tools are hosted as of October 2023.
Diligent Protection of Water Resources
Water covers over 70% of the Earth’s surface, with all living organisms depending on it. Yet, less than 3% of that water is freshwater suitable for drinking and growing food. Farmers heavily rely on water to grow their crops to feed the world.
Diligent protection of water resources is needed to ensure the sustainability of various ecosystems within the agricultural sector and beyond. Hydrology is the study of water on Earth and how it interacts with the environment like in oceans, lakes, rivers, wetlands, and beneath the ground.
Water and farming go hand in hand as water is crucial to growing all crops. Farmers look closely at precipitation and soil moisture to help them determine the best water management strategies needed for their farms such as irrigation and drainage.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s hydrologists, who are scientists studying water, often collaborate with farmers to provide them with expertise, advice, and tools to better understand their agricultural water needs helping producers to make informed decisions about water management.